Dynamic Speakers Close Out 2013 World LEADERS Conference

Rich Wilkerson interviews Joyce Meyer during the World LEADERS Conference in the DeSantis Family Chapel on Thursday.

She was married, a mother of three and holding down a job though the family had difficulty making ends meet. With a 12th grade education, Meyer didn’t feel prepared to teach the Gospel or ready to quit her job to start a ministry.

“If we can step out, we can find out what God can do,” Meyer said. She quit her job and took a part-time job, but she was fired from that position. “At first I wasn’t obedient,” Meyer said. “When God puts it on your heart, you can’t do half. I took a total step in faith but I needed to face some facts. God needed to pay the bills and He did.”

Meyer got the education she needed and began her ministry to become one of the most influential evangelical leaders in America, reaching three billion people through her television and radio program, Enjoying Everyday Life®.

Citing 1 Peter 5:8, she enjoined leaders to be well balanced in their commitments to their work, rest, play, worship, service to others and time for themselves.

Meyer, who spoke as part of a question-and-answer session, preceded the conference’s closing speaker, Condoleezza Rice. The former U.S. Secretary of State who currently serves as a professor at Stanford University, Dr. Rice linked leadership and management as “two halves of the same nut,” both skills are needed to accomplish organizational goals. She pointed to integrity, optimism and surrounding yourself with truth-tellers as keys to successful leadership.

Condoleeza Rice, professor of political economy at Stanford University and former Secretary of State, speaks during the World LEADERS Conference in the DeSantis Family Chapel on Thursday.

“Most people go to Washington because they want to make a difference, then something happens,” Dr. Rice said. “You must constantly put yourself in the shoes of others and try to go where those people are. The best leaders bring people alongside them through inspiration. You can’t lead alone, so find others who are leaders and develop them.”

Also speaking on Thursday were:

♦ Patrick Lencioni, president of The Table Group, best-selling author and leadership/teamwork consultant, spoke on the topic of cultural servant leadership. Among the questions he posed to the audience: Do I understand the problems in the culture, and am I willing to suffer to be a cultural servant leader? He noted that among the major problems in society are a lack of regard for truth and a lack of grace.
♦ Scott Harrison, founder of charity: water, told the story of how the organization he started six years ago is having an impact on changing a sobering statistic — nearly 800 million people worldwide don’t have access to clean water, he said. “Water really changes everything. It radically begins changing the health in a community,” he said.

The investment is modest, Harrison said. A $10,000 well can help 500 people, he said. It also has the potential to allow villagers to spend more time making a living and raising their families, he said. Additionally, every dollar invested in water can yield $12 for the local economy, he said.

Although charity: water has raised close to $100 million and helped some 3.2 million people, “it’s a drop in the bucket,” he said.

♦ Bobby Gruenewald, pastor of LifeChurch.tv and founder of YouVersion Bible App, spoke about how his popular app started as a traditional web site, and how he and his team were “about two weeks away from shutting the whole thing down.” The team recrafted it to work with mobile devices, and today viewers spend some 3 billion minutes per month using it. “We actually have the faith to believe we could see the most Bible-engaged generation in history,” he said.
♦ Craig Groeschel, author and founder/senior pastor of LifeChurch.tv in Oklahoma City, Okla., reminded the audience to embrace failures. “A failure may be just what you need to grow into the leader you’re supposed to be.”
♦ Henry Cloud, clinical psychologist, leadership consultant and best-selling author, spoke about developing people so that they can perform. He cautioned against rushing to judgment about an employee who may not be producing results. Using a plant analogy, he suggested that leaders dig around to find the truth of the situation, cultivate by extending grace and then give ample time to grow.

♦ Ken and Marjorie Blanchard spoke with moderator Jim Blanchard about servant leadership in the home.

♦ Erwin McManus, an artist, filmmaker, author, storyteller, activist and innovator, spoke about the power of human imagination. “You are a materializer of the invisible,” he said.